User:A1Abigail/sandbox

FindTheBest is a network of sites designed to help people make important decisions. The flagship site, FindTheBest.com, allows users to research, filter, and compare products and services. The FindTheBest team compiles prices, reviews, and product specifications from authoritative sources, and presents them to users in a visual table with filters and ratings. FindTheBest is based in Santa Barbara, California, and has been featured in The New York Times, TechCrunch, and The Huffington Post.

History
FindTheBest was founded in 2009 by Kevin J. O’Connor, former CEO and co-founder of DoubleClick, Scott Leonard and Brayton Johnson. The site was publicly launched in 2010 with 9 comparison categories, including health, education, business, and sports. The venture was funded with an initial investment of $750 thousand each from the founders, followed by $2 million by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers in December 2010. FindTheBest.com has since expanded to over 700 comparisons in the 9 categories, and the company is continuing to add more every week.

In 2011, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers invested an additional $4 million into the company. In 2013, FindTheBest added another $11 million in Series B funding from New World Ventures, Montgomery & Co., Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, and others. The company also hired Palmer Jackson as CMO (previously, Phone Halo and Cogi, Inc.) As of February 2013, the FindTheBest network had reached 20 million visits per month and employed a team of approximately 50 people.

Product
FindTheBest offers a desktop and mobile website that enables users to see direct comparisons between products and services. Specific products and services include cars, colleges, investment advisors, smartphones, computers, and over 700 others. Users can filter their options and view Smart Ratings to assist in narrowing down their product selection. They are also able to add or edit product and service listings. Each edit is reviewed by FindTheBest’s team before it goes live.

In 2011, the company launched FindTheData.org, which provides a simple way to browse large datasets on subjects like city crime and job salaries. Much of the information from FindTheData is integrated into FindTheBest comparisons. For example, the FindTheBest colleges comparison contains information on campus safety, faculty salaries, and athletic budgets, each of which is drawn from FindTheData.

In 2012, the company launched an additional user option called AssistMe. The feature asks users a few simple questions, prompting them to prioritize the importance of various attributes of a product. The user then receives five recommended products with “Personal Smart Ratings.”